Submit Your Manuscript

Are you a Screenwriter? Submit your Screenplay

Why is it that it is almost impossible to break into the Entertainment industry?Why do they make it so darn hard? In order to break into the Entertainment Industry, for the most part, you really must know someone who knows that “someone” that will give you a chance, even if just to pitch your screenplay and give them a chance to say “thank you but no thanks”. Although, there are those very few screenwriters that somehow are lucky to get discovered by an Agent or someone who just happens to be looking for the kind of script they happened to have written.

If screenwriting is your full time job and you are a professional screenwriter, congratulations are in order as you’ve lived thru many query letters, pitches, and ”No’s” before someone gave you a chance. However, if screenwriting is your full time job and you have not yet optioned, won a competition, or pitched your script to someone then you must find a real day job and continue to pursue your screenwriting on the side. I know this sounds mean but it is the honest TRUTH. Do not give up though, as there are many avenues out there that you can venture and then who knows, you might get discovered.

If you have a short (2-45 pages long), you should check out InkTip. You can post your copyrighted screenplay shorts on their site free of charge. You just have to make sure you have a catchy, intriguing tagline to get people’s attention. Many Agents, producing companies and the like go to this site and review the screenplays posted. If the information you post catches their attention, the agent or producing company may contact you and request that you submit the short to them. InkTip offers a good variety of services such as: posting your full screenplay (80-120 pages) for a fee of course, listing in their Magazine, newsletter, leads, and so on. I have posted content on InkTip before, and it’s worked out OK for me. If you are on a tight budget, you may want to try the exposure by submitting a short. What do you know, someone may contact you and you may even option out your script. InkTip asks that any material you submit has been properly copyrighted, as they will not be responsible for anything. They are only there to help screenwriters get the exposure they need.

Other avenues you can try too is submitting your screenplay to Scriptapalooza. They have different kinds of competitions, and their screenplay competition is held once a year. Their competition is already underway so you can try to submit your work in next year’s competition. Scriptapalooza does charge a fee for the script submission. Another opportunity out there is Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting Competition, there is a fee and they also hold their competition once a year. I think in terms of competitions, theirs is very reliable (not that the others I’ve mentioned above are not). I say this because of their process and who reads the screenplays.

There are other competitions and websites out there, but take my advice and don’t fall for them. Personally I have used InkTip , I’ve also enter Scriptapalooza‘s & the Nicholl Fellowships competitions three years ago. It was my first time trying it out, and I only did because a Professor in College told me I should submit a story of mine as a screenplay. I guess he thought it was that good. Anyway, I entered their competitions, posted my short on InkTip just to see what happened. From InkTip I received several requests to submit my short, then from Scriptapalooza I was a quarter-finalist (out 5000+ entries), now unfortunately I only received a Thank You letter from Nicholl Fellowships. The point I am trying to make is, it was my very first try (like I said, just for the heck of trying and seeing what happened). I didn’t even try hard enough and I got all that. It makes me wonder, perhaps now if I try really hard then maybe, just maybe I’ll sell one of my screenplays.

Overall, it is true the Entertainment Industry is tough but there are many ways you can break into it. You just have to be careful not to fall for any competition or whatever screenplay editing scams out there that just take your hard earned money. The key is PERSEVERANCE.

I’m a working mom. During the day I’m a Sr. Project Manager for a large corporation, and by night I try to be a mom and wife. Any free time I get away from work, kids and husband, I use for writing anything that comes to mind, and try out my Home Staging and Re-Designing talents. Yeah! I am also a professional home stager. But that is more a hobby than anything else.

amour, you own the copyright upon creation of the work. If you’re worried about theft, you can register the copyright for $45, or you can check out the legitimacy of a contest for free. I recommend the latter.

Right up front, before somebody misinforms you, mailing a copy to yourself and not opening it does not offer any additional protection and is not acceptable in US courts at any level. Likewise, adding a copyright symbol doesn’t protect you any better.

How can you check out a contest?

First, are they up-front what it takes to submit and who may submit? Contests run by amateurs may not make that clear.

Is the entry fee reasonable, something writers can afford? If the contest is limited to teens, if the entry fee very low or zero?

BeautyBlitz is quite correct. You don’t know if a “better” agent will respond, so you’re stuck with what you’ve got.

Most agents, especially the really good ones, prefer exclusive offers – meaning that if they find out you shopped it around to a lot of other agents, they won’t touch it. This means it may take months to find an agent, if at all, but doing things more slowly the right way is much better than screwing yourself over because you’re in a hurry.

Here’s a great article about manuscript formatting for beginners if you are wanting to make some serious submissions.http://www.speculations.com/format.html
You don’t actually send whole manuscripts, though. Most publishing houses don’t take unsolicited manuscripts – BUT some DO. So you’ll have to do lots of research and decide which is best for you.

This is a cut and paste from another question I answered, but I think it might be what you are looking for. First you need to finish the book. Also, publishers look for people who already have a successful writing background, so you may want to establish a freelance writing resume by publishing some non-fiction articles in major publications. Then you’ll need an agent.

I’ve actually been doing some research on publishing and agents while I’ve been working on my book, as well. Here’s some of the information I have found. One thing is certain – a reputable agent never gets paid up front. Their pay comes when they’ve done the work for you and found the publisher. So if any agent is asking for fees up front – it’s more than likely that they’re shady.

Don’t give up. Get out there and sell your manuscript to a publisher. Contrary to what you might have imagined – that it’s the agent’s job to sell your book – the truth is, your book is going to have to sell itself, whether you send it out or an agent does. Then, when you’re offered that contract, contact your short list of agents again, starting at the top, and mention you’ve got a contract to negotiate and you’ll be pretty pleased to find that the response will be quite different. Maybe your first choice or your second still won’t be interested, but your third or fourth will. If you’ve done your research, he or she will still be a fine agent with a good reputation. -

Another good idea for looking for an agent is to read books similar to the ones you want to publish. See if there’s any way you can find out who their agent was. It’s best to know who else the agent has represented, especially when querying. It lets them know you’ve done your research.

Once you’ve done that research, check out if the agent is listed here at Preditors and Editors: http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/peala.htm
It’s a link to a list of literary agents, but it’s alphabetical, not by genre – but this is from a reputable group that looks out for a writer’s best interest. Don’t query the ones with the red “Not recommended” notes.

Bring your own paper to the copy store. The ink from a copier will be fine, and it’s much cheaper in the long run than printing out several book length works.

However, I find it odd that you plan on sending out more than one “manuscript”. This is highly frowned upon. If someone requests a full read you should give them a solitary submission.

But if you are just referring to putting together various submission packets of the first chapter, sentence outline, synopsis, etc. then it would definitely be cheaper in the long run to copy. Just bring your own paper. Nice, thick, white paper.

Is it better to print out your manuscript or make copies of it?
for submitting book manuscripts, is it better to send original computer print outs, or is it ok to make copies of the original print out. or is it basically the same? which is more expensive?

If you submit your book manuscript to many agencies what happens if…?
Some of them reply first with a wish to represent but you know that there are some better agent you sent of to. Do you go with one of the first ones or wit out and see if the other agents reply?